The University of Arizona College of Pharmacy recently completed a study of the reliability of pharmacy software systems that are supposed to identify dangerous drug interactions. Unfortunately the majority of pharmacies did not correctly identify all of the potentially dangerous drug interaction presented in the study. While this failure poses a potential risk for everyone who takes medicine it can be an even more dangerous for seniors and vulnerable adults.

Many seniors often take a larger amount of different prescriptions than other age groups. The risk of dangerous interactions is particularly acute if the person is a vulnerable adult of simply someone who finds it a bit harder than it used to be to remember all of the names of their various medications.

The study looked at 64 different pharmacies in the state of Arizona. For each pharmacy the researchers submitted prescriptions for a made up patient that included 18 medications. Among these 18 medications there were 13 clinically significant drug interactions that should have raised a red flag. Among the 64 pharmacies only 28 percent correctly identified each of the potentially dangerous interactions.

For a senior who may not generally need assistance with other parts of their daily life, staying on top of all of their medications may be one of the first places where some assistance is required. The researchers recommend that patients keep a detailed list of all of the medications that they take. They should share this list with their doctor and pharmacists to ensure that everyone is on the same page.

Source: University of Arizona "Study shows pharmacies' software systems miss potentially dangerous drug-drug interactions" May, 2011